Wireless networking based on the Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 standards is one of the most widely adopted wireless technologies. An 802.11 network may be based on a star topology with two types of wireless devices: clients and access points (APs), both of which may be referred to as stations (STAs). Access points (APs) provide an infrastructure function by communicating directly with client devices and linking them to other networks such as the internet. APs may also link a client device to another client device. Technologies have also been developed to enable a client device to communicate directly with another client device in a peer-to-peer manner without going through an AP. One such technology is Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN), also called Wi-Fi Aware. NAN is a power efficient and scalable peer-to-peer technology that enables Wi-Fi devices to discover devices and/or services in their close proximity and setup NAN operations with peer devices. Such NAN operations include data path and ranging operations that may occur at scheduled time slots and frequency channels.
The 802.11 standards provide service over two frequency bands, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The 2.4 GHz band is approximately 80 MHz in width and allows no more than three non-overlapping channels. The 5 GHz band provides between two and seven times the number of channels and resulting network capacity as the 2.4 GHz band. In most countries, however, portions of the 5 GHz band also are used by weather and military radar systems that have priority over Wi-Fi devices. In order to coexist with these critical systems, Wi-Fi radios must comply with Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) as defined by an 801.11 specification. Compliance with DFS is required for both infrastructure and client devices operating in the 5 GHz band. NAN operations in the 5 GHz band in compliance with DFS are concerns of the present disclosure.